Noisy tires or something else?

[oilmaven]

Lately I've been noticing a low "howl" when driving my Kizashi at low speeds. Although it sounds like noisy tires, the Continental ExtremeContact DWS tires I have on the car only have about 8,000 miles on them (I rotated them at 6,000 miles). I have to say it's pretty noticeable at low speeds...not so much on the highway. I find it hard to believe that the tires could be getting noisy with so few miles so what else could it be? The car only has 20,000 miles on it but is there a chance it could be a wheel bearing? I've had failed wheel bearings on other vehicles and in the early stages they frequently sound like noisy tires...it can be hard to tell. I no longer have a local dealership so I'll have to wait until my next trip to Detroit in April to have it checked out.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Rotate the tires front to back and see if the noise changes, and have the alignment checked. Post the alignment print-out here and we can comment on what may be the issue. I've had some tires get loud as they age, and as soon as 8,000 miles (so I only buy a certain brand of tires now). But I'll bet it's something on the car.

 

[demarpaint]

^^Yes^^ Rotate the tires front to rear and see if the noise changes. I had a similar problem and quickly discovered a wheel bearing was bad.

 

[d00df00d]

See if the noise changes during left or right turns. If it does, it's more likely a wheel bearing.

Depending on your car's alignment specs, rotating tires could increase tire noise.

 

[rpn453]

I've noticed that with certain tires on certain surfaces, including tires that weren't very old and had no apparent unusual wear. I only ever noticed it for brief periods of time though. With a bad wheel bearing or a tire with unusual wear, it typically gets louder and higher in frequency with more speed and is consistently affected by side loading due to steering inputs. I'd just keep a close eye on the tire wear and see if anything changes with regards to either tread or noise. Maybe one or more of the tires wore a certain way in one position and is causing a resonant frequency as it wears according to the loading of another position.

Moving the tires around should help to confirm whether it's the tires and which one is responsible.